Sunday Journal with Tim Whelan and Elisa Zawadzkas

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Republican Tim Whelan and Democrat Elisa Zawadzkas are both vying for the First Barnstable District seat. We host them together in the studio to talk about the issues.

Tim Whelan is a resident of Brewster where he lives with his wife Lisa and their two daughters Maggie and Katie, who are both college students. He will proudly tell you how he and Lisa have been happily married for 24 years.

Whelan is a self-employed Motor Carrier Safety and Compliance consultant. Prior to this, he served as a Sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police, most recently assigned as a shift commander at the South Yarmouth State Police Barracks.

Prior to his service with the State Police, Whelan served as a Correctional Officer with the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department and also served honorably in the United States Marine Corps Reserves having graduated MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina in 1989.

He has been involved in his community not only through his years of service in Law Enforcement in the district, but also through his involvement and charitable work in Cape Cod veteran’s issues, as well as serving as a girl’s basketball coach at Nauset Regional High School and in the Cape Cod Waves AAU program. Whelan has also volunteered his service in numerous areas, organizing fundraisers to support cancer research, collect food and clothing to benefit the homeless and underprivileged, and various events supporting the Wounded Warrior Project.

Elisa Zawadzkas grew up in Orleans, where she lived since the age of five, until she went off-Cape to study at Holy Cross (’02) and earn a law degree from New England School of Law (’05).

She attended the Nauset school system until her junior year and Deerfield Academy after that. Her mother taught culinary arts at Nauset Regional High School for 24 years. At Holy Cross Elisa played on the Division 1 Women’s Basketball team, on which she served as tri-captain her senior year. The team qualified for the NCAA tournament three times.

Zawadzkas works as a partner with her father at the Law Offices of Michael A. Zawadzkas in Orleans. Her father has built and managed a law practice in Orleans for 28 years. Elisa Zawadzkas joined the firm 7 years ago. Her practice focuses primarily on criminal defense and family law in Massachusetts and Federal Court. She is also a member of the Committee of Public Counsel Services (CPCS) where she represents indigent clients.

Elisa Zawadzkas has sat on the Executive Committee for the Barnstable County Bar Association for the past four years and currently serves as the clerk and the chair of the social committee. She also belongs to the Cape & Islands Committee for the Women’s Bar Association.

Zawadzkas has regularly done pro bono work. She volunteers at WE CAN and rode the Last Gasp 62 mile bike race on behalf of the organization this past summer. She takes pro bono cases from Women’s Bar Foundation, which pairs her with indigent clients who have experienced domestic violence. She also participates in the Lawyer of the Day Program and Conciliation Program at the Barnstable Probate and Family Court.

She has been a homeowner in West Dennis since 2007. In Dennis she has sat on the Zoning Board of Appeals since 2008. She is an active member of the Cape Cod Young Professionals and the Holy Cross Club of Cape Cod, on which she has served as a board member.

The Rules: The format was agreed upon in advance. It began with a coin toss to determine who would give the first opening statement. Tim Whelan won the toss. Opening statements were timed at two minutes. We then asked a series of questions and alternated as to who would answer first. Each candidate got two minutes to answer each questions. Final statements were timed at one minute. Again, we did a coin toss before the show and Elisa Zawadzkas won the toss, so she got to give the final statement.